Why Is There a Giant Bullfrog at Grizzell?

Local News

If you needed a procedure to remove a blood clot or open a blocked artery, you’d probably assume it would be done at a hospital.

But there’s a medical office here in Dublin doing some of those procedures right in the office.

360 Vascular Institute opened on Perimeter Drive in 2023. Its founder, Dr. Deepak Sudheendra, spent more than a decade at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania before returning to Ohio and opening the practice.

And this isn’t just a doctor’s office with an exam room. There’s a catheterization lab inside where Sudheendra performs procedures including removing blood clots, opening blocked arteries, placing vascular stents and treating uterine fibroids. They even perform a procedure that treats chronic knee pain from osteoarthritis by reducing blood flow to the inflamed area around the knee. Patients who can safely be treated there go home the same day; cases that require hospital care are referred out.

Sudheendra says doing the procedures in an office can also make them considerably less expensive because patients aren’t charged a separate hospital or facility fee. He gave us two examples of patients who paid more than 80% less than they would have for hospital-based treatment, although he noted those were individual cases and most of his patients use insurance.

And apparently people are willing to travel for it. About 25% to 30% of the practice’s patients come from outside Central Ohio, and Sudheendra says they’ve treated people from 42 states and several countries.

So there’s quite a bit more happening inside that medical office than you’d probably guess from driving by.

You can learn more about them here.

Local News

There’s a pretty big celebration happening at Riverside Crossing Park this weekend that you may not know much about.

Saturday is the Ohio Moon Festival, and this year marks its 10th anniversary.

The festival celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival, which has been celebrated for centuries in China and other parts of Asia. Traditionally, it’s a time for families to come together, admire the full moon and, of course, eat mooncakes.

Dublin’s version has grown into a pretty big celebration of Asian culture. There will be lion and dragon dances, traditional music, Kung Fu and Tai Chi demonstrations, tea ceremonies, calligraphy, games and plenty of food.

And you don’t need to know anything about the tradition to go. The whole idea is to come experience it — whether that’s watching a dragon dance, trying some food you’ve never had before or finally finding out what a mooncake tastes like.

The Ohio Moon Festival runs from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday at Riverside Crossing Park, and admission is free.

So if you’ve walked through Riverside Crossing plenty of times before, Saturday should look a little different.

Local News

If you've ever been inside the courtyard at Grizzell Middle School, you may have noticed there's a rather large bullfrog sitting there.

There's actually a pretty great story behind it.

Back in 2002, Grizzell social studies teacher Shawn Kaeser was teaching his students about state symbols and the legislative process when they realized Ohio didn't have an official state frog. So instead of just learning about how a bill becomes a law, they decided to try it themselves.

It took eight years, with students writing state representatives and senators along the way, but it worked. In 2010, the American bullfrog officially became Ohio's state frog. It's still written into Ohio law today.

And the students weren't finished. Another group later took up an effort to get the bullfrog onto an Ohio license plate. That eventually became law too, and the law specifically calls for Grizzell representatives to help select the design. Each plate also generates a $15 contribution to Ohio's wildlife habitat fund.

The whole point wasn't really the frog. Kaeser was trying to teach his students how the lawmaking process actually worked. And rather than just teaching them the steps, he gave them a chance to actually go through them.

We have a lot of great teachers in Dublin, and this seems like a pretty good example of what that can look like. Those students didn't just learn how a bill becomes a law. They actually helped make one.

And that's why there's a giant bullfrog sitting in the courtyard at Grizzell.